The War at Home

The War on the Home Front

What the war looked like in Canada Sacrifice Halifax Explosion Enemy Aliens Role of Government The Economy Conscription New Roles of Women Propaganda

Sacrifice To finance the war, Canada introduced many

cost-cutting measures.

Canadians were faced with food rations and mandatory waste reduction

Daylight savings time was introduced to reduce energy use

Communities had fundraisers to help send money and materials to the troops

Sacrifice

Halifax Explosion, 1917

The Halifax Explosion brought the bloodshed of Europe to Canada

A French munitions ship carrying explosives crashed into another ship in the Halifax harbour

Halifax Explosion, 1917 Flattened large area of Halifax

Fires went through the city

Huge tidal wave tossed ships onto the land

Killed over 2,000 people

Halifax Explosion, 1917

Over $30 million dollars was donated from around the world to help Halifax rebuild the city.

Enemy Aliens

Residents of Canada who were born in the countries that Canada was at war with were known as enemy aliens

500,000 enemy aliens were living in Canada

Fears of sabotage and spying

Enemy Aliens

Canada used the War Measures Act to place restrictions on enemy aliens.

Enemy aliens could be arrested or searched at any time.

Were sent to remote internment camps

Enemy Aliens – Internment Camps

Enemy Aliens Under the War Measures Act the government

introduced censorship

Banned the publication of books and magazines in enemy languages.

Enemy Aliens – Internment Camps

Censorship Censorship was introduced because the government did not

want the people to know what it was really like in the war.

They needed people to join

The government started to publish newspapers

Letters sent by soldiers were censored (examined) before being delivered to make sure they were not complaining about the war life

Role of the Government

During the war, food and fuel became limited and prices soared

Winter of 1918 schools and factories closed because they had no heating.

Role of the Government

Honour Rationing was introduced

Citizens limited themselves to a certain amount of food.

Ex. Two pounds of sugar a month

Prohibition – the ban on the sale of alcohol

Role of the Government

The war cost the government over $1 million dollars a day

Government encouraged Canadians to buy victory bonds.

People bought bonds, which was lending the government money to be used to help the war. After the war the bonds could be cashed for a

profit.

Victory Bonds

Role of the Government

1917 income tax was introduced to help pay for the war.

Was intended to be a temporary tax.

But still paid today

The Economy During the war, Canadian debt increased

dramatically to finance the war.

After war was declared, factories started to produce much more to supply the war.

Farmers were encouraged to produce as much as they could to help the war effort

As a result Canada’s economy boomed until the end of the war.

Conscription

By 1917 volunteer enlistments were not keeping up with the number of men being killed or wounded

Conscription was proposed

Conscription is compulsory military service

Conscription

Canadians were divided on the topic of conscription

English speakers felt the French speakers were not helping out enough

Conscription

French Canadien View of Conscription

French speakers did not feel like they had to help Britain in the war

Canada’s French population felt no connection to France

French felt like second class citizens in Canada because their language was no longer taught in many provinces

French Canadian View of Conscription

Were also angered by the Minister of Militia, Sam Hughes, having the training programs all completed in English in Valcartier, Quebec.

Military Service Bill Prime Minister Borden introduced the

Military Service Bill in 1917

Made conscription compulsory for males between 20 and 35

Only men who were sick or conscientous objectors/pacifists were not forced to join

Conscientous objectors/pacifists

Those people that believed fighting was against their religious beliefs

Conscription

Many people believed it was a moral duty

People were very angry at pacifists (against the war due to religion) who did not participate in the war

Conscription Affected Canadian politics

Prime Minister Borden (conservatives) wanted Wilfred Laurier (liberals) to form a Union Government (a joint government) to show Canada’s commitment to the war

Laurier refused to join the conservatives since they opposed conscription

Conscription 1917 election was fought mostly on the issue

of conscription

French-Canadien nationalist Henri Bourassa led a campaign against conscription

Union Government (Conservatives with a few English speaking Liberals) won the most seats

Conscription

Conscription made the relations between French Canadiens and English Canadians even worse then it already was

New Roles for Women During WW1 hundreds of women volunteered

overseas as nurses and ambulance drivers

At home the number of women employed in industry, banks, and police forces greatly increased.

These jobs were considered unsuitable for women before 1914

New Roles for Women

New Roles for Women

Since women were helping out with the war they started to demand the right to vote

Members of this movement were called suffragettes

New Roles for Women

1916 women granted the right to vote in most provinces.

1917 the Wartime Elections Act granted the federal right to vote to the mothers, sisters, and wives of soldiers

By the end of the war almost all women over the age of 21 had the right to vote federally

Voting

Still did not have the right to vote federally

Aboriginal women Most aboriginal men Asians Other minority groups

Propaganda

Propaganda is any strategy used to persuade people to believe in a certain idea

During WW1 propaganda was used to persuade people to join the Armed Forces and to influence how people felt about the war

Propaganda

Enlistment posters encouraged people to vote for a union government in 1917 election

TV was not invented yet, and radios were rare. Newspapers and posters were the best way of communication

Propaganda

Government did not want people to find out how terrible the war was so the government controlled what was

printed.

Prevented the Canadian population from reading about the truth

Propaganda

Total War

All of the resources of a nation are organized for one purpose - to win the war.

War Front - where armies fought Home Front - production, enlisting

troops, financing, and organizing

Total War Most countries introduced conscription

Why?

War bonds were introduced and sold to the public

Income tax introduced

Women took non-traditional jobs

Children were even used to collect materials

Industries were changed to mass produce war materials